Retirement age is 60 from July 1

The July 1 deadline for private companies to raise the retirement age of their employees from 55 to 60 will not change.

Some 600,000 companies registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia will be involved.

Human Resources Ministry deputy secretary-general Datuk Mohd Shariff Hussin said there would be no more delays in implementing the policy for the private sector.

He said, to date, none of the companies had written to the ministry to seek a six-month extension of the deadline.

“Come July 1, all 600,000 private companies throughout the country will have to implement the new ruling.

There will be no further delay,” he told the New Straits Times.

The retirement age for the private sector was increased from the current 55 to 60 under the Minimum Retirement Age Act, which was passed in June and gazetted in August last year.

The implementation date was decided upon after discussions with all relevant parties, including the ministry, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) and the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF).

The ruling was supposed to be implemented early this year, but was deferred, to avoid burdening employers who also had to comply with the minimum wage scheme.

Employers could seek exemption from the ruling for up to six months provided they submitted strong justifications in their applications, which had to be sent to the ministryb y Feb28.

The ruling, however, does not prevent an employee from retiring upon reaching the age of optional retirement, as agreed to in the contract of service or collective agreement.

MTUC president Mohd Khalid Atan welcomed news that the implementation date for retirement age would not be delayed further.

He said there was no reason for any company to seek further deferment as the implementation had been delayed for too long.

"The government should be firm in implementing the minimum retirement age for the private sector without further delay. And the private sector has to comply for the welfare of workers."

Khalid said private sector workers had been waiting far too long for the new retirement age as Malaysians were still active and able to continue working after 55.

He said the government had given companies ample time to prepare themselves for the implementation.

Khalid said if all companies did not implement the new retirement age policy by July 1, MTUC would convene a special meeting to deliberate on the next course of action.

However, MEF executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said consideration should be given to employers applying for a deferment of the deadline.

Shamsuddin said some companies had applied for extensions.

- NST